The Responsible Adult
by Racke
Summary: Nanako Kuroi x Matsuri Hiiragi, because I felt like it.
1. Chapter 1

The Responsible Adult

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

XXX

"I'm sorry! My husband just got home, so I'll have to cancel," Yui looked honestly apologetic as she took off at a speed that shouldn't be imitated, ever.

Kuroi stared after her for a moment, then a sudden question dawned on her. _She's got a __**husband**__!_

Even though she wouldn't be able to have someone to drink _with_ she didn't really feel like returning home, and she could probably use a bottle or two after learning that her drinking friend was actually already married.

XXX

It wasn't all that unusual to see a woman like her drinking alone, it wasn't even the fact that she – rather than having fun – seemed to be drowning her troubles that made Matsuri notice her. It was the fact that she almost seemed to be drinking as much tears as alcohol.

It's actually pretty normal for drinkers to start crying – a few drinks and they'll tell you all about their troubles, whether you want to hear them or not – but this was the first time she'd seen one _literally_ bawling her eyes out. It was actually kind of interesting to watch.

As the woman raised her hand to call for another drink, however, Matsuri began to get a bit worried.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Matsuri looked uncertainly at the older woman.

"I'm fine, the both of you should stop worrying…" she waved dismissively as she downed another glass.

"Both? Umm… but there's only me…" _Don't tell me, she's seeing double?_

"Really?" she seemed a bit dazed, "I thought you were twins…" she giggled a little, "Guess I _am_ a bit drunk after all…" she began to stand up, but stumbled and fell back to her seat.

Matsuri stared at her for a moment, then she looked up at the clock. It was almost closing time.

"Give me a moment, I'll walk you home," the woman looked at her quizzically, "I'd feel guilty if I left someone who can barely stand to make their way home on their own…"

"Your face is kind of red," she laughed, seemingly happy about life in general.

Matsuri stared at her for a moment, surprised with how her attitude had changed so completely, then she began to get ready to walk her home.

XXX

Matsuri had planned to get Nanako – a name that had been more or less forced upon her to use, which seemed like a pretty standard thing for happy, drunk people to do – home, possibly tuck her into bed, and then leave again.

It didn't really work out like that.

After realizing that leaving her alone for more than thirty seconds would make her cry like a little kid, Matsuri had some difficulties with trying to find enough heart to actually leave the apartment.

In the end, she simply called home and told them that she'd be staying over at a friend's. She then spent a few hours comforting the _very_ – she really couldn't stretch this enough – emotional woman, or – when it came to that – hold her hair back as she found something to throw up in.

XXX

The first thing Kuroi became aware of was a splitting headache.

Although it was most certainly painful, there wasn't really anything strange about it, hangovers were a pretty normal occurrence in her life. So, she opened her eyes slowly whilst quietly chanting in her thoughts to move slowly and as quietly as possible.

Kuroi blinked. _Eh?_ There was definitely something wrong here.

Her head was resting on something soft – she'd assumed that it was her pillow, but apparently she'd been wrong – and there was an unusual – but still quite pleasant – fragrance in the air whenever she breathed. _So, I'm not hallucinating?_

Kuroi stared at the girl in who's lap her head rested. It took her some time to recall what'd happen the previous night – and large parts were still pretty blurry – but she did conclude that this girl had been worried about her, and not only walked her home, but also decided to stay over to take care of her.

This realization led to some embarrassment, backed up with some guilt, and finally topped off with a sudden need to repay the girl for her troubles. But, how was she supposed to do that?

A growling noise broke her out of her reflections, and she smiled as she thanked her stomach. She'd make her breakfast, it'd at least be something.

XXX

_Note to self: Sleep. In. Bed. Sleeping on the floor hurts._ Such sounded Matsuri's first thoughts of the day.

_Hmm? What's that smell?_ Struggling to open her eyes, Matsuri was quickly reminded of her reason for not sleeping in a bed – it'd feel weird to use another person's bed. She mumbled sleepily as she began to make her way towards the origin of the heavenly smell of what seemed to be food.

"Ah, you're awake," Nanako smiled happily, though there seemed to be something of a flinch of pain – Matsuri guessed that she had a hangover – "I figured you might want some breakfast," at Matsuri's hesitance she continued, "See it as repaying the favor…" she seemed to be blushing.

"Wow, so you _can_ be a responsible adult…"

"Hey, that's rude you know. I'm a teacher, of course I'm a responsible adult."

"Eh? A teacher, really? I never would've guessed…" Matsuri answered her with honest surprise.

The breakfast tasted just as heavenly as it'd smelled, and Matsuri was actually a little disappointed when her stomach told her that there was no room for any more of it. But, even if it hadn't tasted as wonderful as it did, she probably would've enjoyed it anyway. The reason for this was simple, and was currently sitting on the other side of the table.

Nanako's expressions seemed to change continuously as she ate, all of them genuine, all of them completely natural. It was fascinating to watch, and thanks to this, it was proving somewhat difficult to concentrate on the food, even if it really _did_ taste heavenly.

It was around this time that the older woman noticed something for the first time. The clock.

"Uwaah! It's that late already! I've got to get to work!" with these words she scrambled into a frenzy of activity.

Matsuri could only stare in disbelief as Nanako flew around the apartment. _I kind of want to see this again, someday… I wonder if I could catch it on camera?_ Unfortunately, she didn't have any cameras with her.

Deciding that it'd probably be bad to stay in the teacher's apartment by herself, Matsuri picked up what few things she brought with her, and began to move out the door, when she realized something.

_I really won't be able to see this again, and I'll never be able to eat her breakfast again…_ She turned around just as Nanako entered the hallway – looking about as calm as a panicking tornado.

"_One_ meal won't be enough to pay me back, you know," Nanako blinked, seemingly surprised with… pretty much everything, "So, in return, please cook for me again," and with that, she left the stunned teacher with a cheerful smile.

XXX

"Heellooo!"

"I'm already in the kitchen, don't pressure me!"

It'd been almost a month sine that day, and Matsuri coming over to eat had somehow become normal for the two of them. Nanako did show up at the bar where she worked every now and then, and she usually ended up staying over at her apartment as a result. Not because Nanako had trouble walking, but simply because they both enjoyed it.

It was a strange relationship – Matsuri had tried to explain it to a friend who'd looked slightly scandalized and asked her who the lucky guy was, it'd taken quite some time to sort that mess out – and she wasn't really sure what they should call it, but she figured that as long as they both enjoyed it, it was fine.

"So, what's for dinner?" Matsuri curiously looked over the older woman's shoulder.

"I'm not telling, figure it out on your own," a slight smile snuck it's way onto Nanako's lips as Matsuri made a big show of pondering what it might be.

"Instant ramen?"

"How could this possibly be ramen?" the teacher looked at her in mock disbelief.

"Really? I thought I nailed it…" she pouted as she showily tried to think of something else, "Sushi?"

"There's either something seriously wrong with both your eyes _and_ your nose, or you're not even trying."

"Fine, it's curry," she gave a mock glare, "Happy now?"

"Overjoyed."

XXX

"Could I try cooking for once?" Nanako blinked, surprised by the offer.

"Sure, it's not really like I love cooking."

"I see," Matsuri smiled happily as she started gathering up the things she'd be needing.

"So, what are you making?" curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of her, and for a moment Matsuri almost saw a dog's tail wagging behind her – she had to stifle a laugh as a result.

"You'll see."

"Is this payback for last time?"

"No, it wasn't really your fault that the waffles turned to charcoal," she smiled sweetly at Nanako – who suddenly felt an odd need to run away and hide.

Seeing as she didn't really want to get in the way, Nanako decided to leave her some space until dinner was finished.

It didn't take too long.

"Miso soup?" Matsuri nodded.

"Miso soup."

Nanako might not love to _cook_, but she did very much enjoy the _eating_ part of food, and, despite the immense amounts the younger woman had made, it didn't take long before she'd finished it all – though considering how slowly Nanako seemed to be moving at the end, she was on her last pair of legs.

"You're really good at this, huh?" Nanako laughed, "I wish I could eat your miso soup everyday."

Matsuri blinked. Her face slowly heating up, becoming redder with each passing moment. The older woman looked at her curiously.

"Umm…" Matsuri could feel her heart suddenly racing as she stared into her beautiful, green eyes, "I'm… I-I'm inexperienced, b-but if you'll have me…" Nanako blinked, looking very confused for a moment, until realization dawned on her.

"I-I wasn't-…!" franticly waving with her hands as her voice didn't seem to obey her, "… That was…" Matsuri looked at her quizzically, "I…" something seemed to change as she met the younger woman's eyes, "I-I'm not really all that experienced either… So, please take care of me…" her face was just as red as Matsuri's now.

XXX

**A/n:** **I've written for a lot of pairings for Lucky Star, and since I kind of like these two, I figured I should try to write at least **_**something**_** with them. I hope that it was enjoyable.**

"I wish I could eat your miso soup everyday." – is a very traditional way of proposing to someone in Japan.


	2. Chapter 2

The Responsible Adult

**A/n: Uhh... I sorta accidentally found this chapter and realized that I'd finished it like a month after I published the first one... so uhh... sorry for the wait.**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 2

XXX

There was an odd silence at the Hiiragi household. Almost as if everyone there were holding their breaths.

"Eh! Sensei is getting married?" the twins spoke as one – which was unusual, considering the difference in their personalities – shattering the silence with their loud voices.

"Shouldn't _I _be your main concern…?" Matsuri seemed a bit annoyed by their reaction.

"B-But sensei can't marry! It's not like her!" Tsukasa continued the outbursts, whilst Kagami decided that it was probably time to tread lightly.

"How is it not like me?"

"Well, you always talked with Yui-san about not getting married – though I don't understand why since she's already married…" Kuroi spluttered.

"You _knew_! Why didn't anyone tell _me_ these things!"

"Well, it was kind of difficult…" Kagami's mumbling carried across the table.

"You _too_!"

"Umm… I think sensei is the only one who didn't…" Tsukasa unwittingly dealt the final blow, leaving their teacher with a sudden urge to drink away her own embarrassment.

After realizing this mistake on her part, the youngest of the sisters did her best to comfort her teacher, 'her best' being very awkward.

"Is it just me, or are you guys ignoring me?" Matsuri was still annoyed.

XXX

"Gaah! I overslept!" it was an ordinary day at Kuroi's apartment, "Why didn't you wake me!"

"I tried, but you just continued sleeping… and you looked so cute that I couldn't really bring myself to try any harder…"

Nanako stared at the younger woman, feeling her face turn redder with every passing moment, before suddenly snapping out of her stupor.

"Crap! I don't have _time_ to fall for you all over again, I've got to get to school!"

"Ah, Nanako! I won't allow you to leave when you're in such a state," Matsuri blocked the doorway with a serious face and pointed towards the kitchen, "You need to eat breakfast."

"B-But… I'm late… a-and Izumi will laugh at me again…" realizing that she didn't sound at all like the age she actually was, Kuroi finally stopped whining and started eating her breakfast – which was absolutely delicious, in case you were wondering.

As Nanako gulped down the food – it might be delicious, but she was _really_ late – Matsuri began combing the older woman's hair, partly because she wanted Nanako to look reasonably presentable, and partly because she very much enjoyed playing with the teacher's hair.

Though it wasn't much as far as romance go – there was an 'I love you' and a quick kiss before she stormed off – Matsuri decided that these kinds of days were fine too. After all, this was one of the things that had made her fall in love with Nanako – and she had sort of had this in mind, back when she couldn't bring herself to wake her.

So, she cleaned up the mess the older woman had left behind – which wasn't all that much – and then set off for the day as well.

XXX

"Sensei!"

"Hmm? What do you want?" Kuroi turned around.

"Umm… is it really alright to walk around with that hickey in plain view?"

"… Eh?" Kuroi stared at Konata for a while, then she blinked, and then she returned to staring, "Hickey…?" Konata nodded slowly.

"It's right here," Konata pointed on a place on her own neck – not wanting to invade her teacher's private bubble any more than necessary.

Kuroi blinked once more, slowly placed a hand over the indicated space, then she turned around, and ran full speed towards the nearest mirror.

The nearest mirror proved the small girl's observation to be correct, and as the teacher tried to think of a good – and not _completely_ obvious – way of covering it up, she couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be developing a nervous twitch.

In the end, she didn't find any good way of covering it up, so she settled for trying not to turn that side towards the class. This however, ended up failing in a most spectacular way.

After said spectacular failing she was not only forced to admit to the students – that 'yes, she had a hickey' – she was also forced to explain the finer points in creating a hickey – though Konata had been more than happy to help her along on that latter one.

All of this meant that when the lesson finally ended, not only had she made several people curious about her personal life, she was also left feeling somewhat guilty about teaching her fiancée's little sister about, if not _sex_, then at least the important arts of foreplay.

Basically, she'd had a pretty lousy day.

So, when the previously mentioned fiancée greeted her with a 'welcome' from the kitchen, the moment she got home, she couldn't help but feel a little peeved.

"The food will be done so-…!" Matsuri's status report on dinner was interrupted as Nanako wrapped her arms around her, emitting a low growling noise as she began kissing the younger woman's neck, "Ah, N-Nanako! That t-tickles!" not wanting to stand next to heated objects when someone was distracting her, Matsuri turned around in her embrace and gently pushed the teacher backwards towards the dining table.

"Really!" adjusting her clothes somewhat, she tried to look serious – this however, proved to be futile as Nanako started pouting.

"You gave me a hickey," Matsuri could feel a blush rising to her cheeks at the reminder.

"I guess I did, didn't I?" trying her best to play nonchalant about the whole affair, she turned her attention back towards the food.

"You gave me a hickey in a place where other people could see, without telling me about it," yes, she was definitely pouting.

"What of it?"

"An hour ago, I taught your youngest sister about the important aspects of foreplay," Matsuri spluttered, coughed, and counted herself lucky that she hadn't been trying to eat or drink anything – knowing that she'd have choked on it if that had been the case – before finally turning towards her fiancée with what Nanako interpreted as the first telltale signs of a nervous twitch.

"You did _what_?" there was also a lot of barely suppressed rage, and suddenly the teacher was glad for the distance between them, she'd at least have a _bit_ of a head start, should it turn into full out murderous rage.

"Well, Izumi did most of the talking, I simply answered any questions…" she was about to continue, but there seemed to be a hint of that murderous rage just now.

"Nanako, give me your phone…" she held out her hand with a commandeering voice, and the older woman obeyed without question.

"Yes, is this Konata? No. Yes, I'll hold," there was a pause, "Is this Konata? Good. Ah, this is Matsuri, Kagami's sister?" her voice was controlled, and she was even smiling politely – despite the person on the other line not being able to see it – but her eyes were _far_ from friendly, "I heard that you had quite an interesting class today," once more, a pause, "I see, now, could you explain to me exactly what you were telling my innocent little sister?" the murderous rage had finally slipped out into her voice, and even Nanako could hear the 'eep'ing noise from the other end of the line.

Deciding that it would probably be bad if Konata ended up at a hospital – or the morgue – the older woman checked in on the food, and turned towards the one who was currently making her way to the door.

"Oi, Matsuri! Dinner's ready," Matsuri froze, seemed to rethink the urge to harm the small girl, and decided that she could to that anytime, and that dinner was definitely a priority one – she was a Hiiragi after all.

XXX

Matsuri sighed, feeling a little torn about this, she'd decided to go along with it simply because Nanako had pouted when she'd tried to say no – Nanako's pouting could be the stuff of legends, if someone was actually crazy enough to write legends about pouting.

She raised the camera and got ready for the sign – which wasn't really necessary since she could hear everything they were saying.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," – she was lying – "Yui, this is my fiancée," as Yui turned in her direction Matsuri snapped as many shots of the married woman's face as possible.

It was oddly rewarding work, as the woman's face changed from confusion, to surprise, back to confusion, then onwards to realization, before finally settling somewhere in between embarrassment and awkwardness.

Matsuri could feel a slight smile tugging at her lips. The older woman had been right. This _was_ fun.

After their obligatorily awkward greeting, the conversation between them became sporadic, except for a prayer – directed at Matsuri rather than Nanako – that she'd erased those pictures before the teacher got a hold of them, the request had been denied since the teacher had by then already snatched the camera out of her hands.

The reason for the lacking conversation was simple, Matsuri was working at the time, and couldn't really spend all of her time by the two women – even _if_ she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her fiancée.

XXX

There'd been a slight rain shower earlier in the day, leaving a dampness on the ground that seemed to be almost glowing as the two of them began to shove things into the car.

Gravel crunched beneath their feet as they continued with packing, or at least Nanako's – Matsuri had been told to sit down and never touch any packing ever again.

It might sound like a cruel thing to say, but after not only forgetting to pack important things, but also using such an unstable car-packing system that it'd all come pouring out the moment they'd opened the trunk, Nanako couldn't really bring herself to believe that she'd learned her lesson from her earlier mistakes – she'd _experienced_ Matsuri's closet, and it'd been using a similar system.

Matsuri couldn't help but smile a little at the memory of pulling the older woman out of a pile of the closet's contents, only to realize that she'd had underwear stuck on her head.

She loved this woman, strange as she might be sometimes, and even though she wanted them to do things together, that didn't mean she wanted to endanger either of them – Matsuri had been the one who'd opened the trunk last time – and so she felt rather content with simply watching as Nanako carried heavy-looking bag after heavy-looking bag, and shoved them all into the car in an orderly fashion.

She looked… beautiful.

Matsuri could feel her face heating up at the thought, and quickly looked away.

"Heh, you're blushing," jumping slightly, Matsuri looked up into the older woman's eyes, momentarily too stunned to think of any retort.

The world seemed to pause for a moment, and then Nanako stretched out her hand.

"Care for a dance?"

Matsuri took it, and suddenly she was on her feet, laughing softly as they spun across the small parking lot. They were happy together, and that wasn't going to change.

XXX

**A/n:** **For the sake of authenticity, here's the original author note I wrote when I'd finished it:**

**This is the **_**final**_** chapter, and you aren't sweet talking me into making any more – **_**this**_** time.**


End file.
